In Kitchen Confidential, his warts-and-all account of the food industry, Anthony Bourdain wrote that a new restaurant that comes up at the same spot where an old one shut down is likely to fail even before launching. The reasons he gave are that the location itself might be a problem, and that past associations make it difficult for the new establishment to form its own identity. And if his theory is indeed true, then things don't bode well for Old Times' Sake, which launched exactly a week ago in the same Santacruz space where the wildly popular watering hole, Three Wise Men, used to be.

But since we aren't the sort to jump to conclusions, we decide to check the joint out on a weekend afternoon to form our own opinion, and our autorickshaw draws up before a pile of rubble and a façade covered in blue tarpaulin. It looks like this place has had a premature delivery. The doorman is almost surprised that there are customers at 2 pm. Inside, the waiters are caught equally unawares by our presence. But then they bring us the menu when we settle down at a corner table indicating that, yes, we are indeed here to eat and drink.